Local History

Local History and Genealogy Resources at your fingertips!

Where does your family story begin? With your grandmother's shortbread recipe? With Great-Grandpa's tall-tale of the one that got away? These are the stories that matter, the ones that you'll be talking about for years. And now you can share them with everyone. Help us preserve Innisfil's community memory by sharing your favourite stories or photos with Our Stories Innisfil.

Curious? You can search Our Stories right from this page. Enter your search term at the top of this page and select "local history".

If you're looking for some help with your genealogy and local history projects, you've come to the right place! Whether you're prepared to uncover some skeletons in your closets or track down your Great Uncle Arthur, we've got a ton of resources for you.

Everyone has a story to tell and we want to hear yours. Check out this featured video from Our Stories!

New In 2018! First Nations of Simcoe County: A History

Have you been looking for more information about First Nations history specifically in the Innisfil area? The Innisfil ideaLAB & Library is proud to present a new website, First Nations of Simcoe County: A History, to provide an introduction to the expanse of indigenous history in this area of our province. Please visit www.firstnations.innisfillibrary.ca to find out more!

Getting Started

The easiest way to start researching your family history is by writing down what you already know. Start with yourself and work your way backwards through your family tree.

Go through family records (letters, diaries, birth, marriage and death certificates, photo albums), and look for clues about your ancestors. Family histories can become very complicated, so be sure to follow these guidelines while doing your research:

1. Keep track of the information you find and where you find it, as well as the resources where you did not find anything. This will prevent you from consulting the same source twice.

2. Ask other family members what they know about your ancestors and if they have any records or photos which might provide more information.

3. Be sure to write down more than just names and numbers. Keep track of where your ancestors came from, how they got to Canada and where they lived.

Our Stories Innisfil

Our Stories Innisfil is the place to go for historic photos of Innisfil from the collection of the Innisfil Historical Society. Look up your ancestors, schools or your home town to see what’s available.

Local History Collection

Located at the Stroud Branch of the Innisfil Public Library, this should be your first stop if you are researching your roots in Innisfil. We have books, cemetery records, newspapers and birth, death and marriage indexes available on microfilm. Did we mention there’s even a microfilm reader? For a complete list of the microfilm and microfiche available, click here. In addition, the Local History Collection houses the historical scrapbooks created by the Stroud Women's Institute. Look for the call number LH REF 971.317 Str

Visit us at 7883 Yonge Street, Stroud or give us a shout at 705-436-1681

Ancestry

Access to Ancestryis available in-library only. Search family histories using Ancestry Library Edition. And it’s not just a ploy to get you to come visit us more often you can search records from North America, Europe and across the world, as well access great genalogy resources and tools. You can access the site by visiting http://www.ancestrylibrary.com/ from any of our four library branches. For access to the Archives of Ontario through Ancestry, click here (in-library use only for both resources). To learn more about using Ancestry visit the How-To Website

Books

The library's collection of genealogy books changes frequently as new titles are added. The exciting part is that you can use our library catalogue to search for books on a variety of genealogy subjects. Click on the links below to see what's available today: Genealogy | The Local History Collection | Census

Cemetery Records

Cemetery records are held locally by the organization responsible for the burial site. This includes churches, crematorium, and in the case of municipal cemeteries, town offices. Contact the local public library for the area you are interested in for more information on the records available for a particular region.

The Ontario Genealogical Society has made over 95% of Ontario's cemetery records available online; search by name, town, cemetery and other fields.

Innisfil Public Library holds the following cemetery records in the Local History Collection at the Stroud Branch.

Title

Author

Bethesda Cemetery: part of the north half of lot 5, concession 3, Innisfil Township, Simcoe County, Ontario

Ontario Genealogy Society, Simcoe County Branch

Cemetery Inscriptions: Tecumseth and West Gwillimbury Townships, Simcoe County, Ontario

(with historic notes)

Tecumseth and West Gwillimbury Historical Society, Simcoe County Branch

Clement's Cemetery, also known as Cherry Creek Cemetery or Second Line Cemetery: part of the north half of lot 16, concession 1, Innisfil Township, Simcoe County, Ontario

Wallace, Ross.

Ontario Genealogical Society, Simcoe County Branch

Roman Catholic Cemetery at the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Ewart Street, Bell Ewart, Ontario: part of the north half of lot 24, concession 4, Innisfil Township, Simcoe County, Ontario

Wallace, Ross.

Ontario Genealogical Society, Simcoe County Branch

St. Peter's Anglican Church Cemetery, Churchill, part of the north half of lot 15, concession 3, Innisfil

Also available on microfiche in library is the 1851 census for the city of Manchester, United Kingdom, including the following regions: Salford-Regent Road, Manchester, Chorlton Upon Medlock, Oldham-Below-Town, Salford-Greengate (including Trinity Ward), Hulme, and Ashton-Under-Lyne.

Newspapers

Newspapers are great for finding birth announcements, obituaries, and human interest stories. Older editions of some local newspapers are available on microform in the Department of Long Ago: Local History Collection at the Stroud Branch.

Bradford Witness: 1960, 1962 to 1985

Cookstown Advocate: 1902, 1919, 1936, 1940 to 1953

Innisfil Scope: 1973 to 1977; May to December 1979; Jan to July 1980; March 4 1981; January to October 1985; March 1986 to April 2014

Innisfil Journal: 2010 to 2012; May 2013 to December 2014

Barrie Examiner - Innisfil Edition: December 2005 to December 2006

Innisfil Examiner: January 2007 to December 2014

Globe and Mail 1844-2010: You can also access full text of the Globe and Mail from 1844-2010 from home at any time using your Innisfil Public Library card. Amazing!

Vital Statistics

Innisfil Public Library has vital statistics for Ontario, available on microfilm at the Local History Collection at the Stroud Branch. The records may include: name, date of event, place of event, name of involved officials and/or relatives.

Birth Indexes, 1869-1914

Marriage Indexes, 1873-1929

Death Indexes, 1869-1939

Birth, Marriage & Death Index, 1869

Marriage Index, 1870-1873

Digging Deeper

Canadian Genealogy Centre:

No genealogical research project could be considered complete without a visit to the Canadian Genealogy Centre website. The Canadian Genealogy Centre is run by National Archives of Canada and holds millions of items related to the history of our country and people. They provide many services for the genealogist and are the primary source for a number of different types of records.